I May be Cured, Find Out How (True Story)

JohnBFisher wrote:That's one honest ENT. All too often (here in the US) they try to convince patients that surgery is the solution - even if it has a poor chance of success. Noting that it had a slight chance of curing your apnea is the correct answer. However, removing the source of obstruction was the right thing to do, regardless. Even if it did not fully "cure" you, it would almost certainly improve your numbers to require less pressure.

weeburty wrote:... Obviously I will have to wait a few weeks then get tested to make sure. ...

JohnBFisher wrote:And good for you for wanting to have it tested. Though you might feel "well" without the CPAP, it's always wise to have the diagnostic test to confirm it. Too many patients end up assuming something is "cured" only to find that irreparable damage is done. That does not appear to be the case in your situation, but you are wise to confirm it.

Best wishes and do keep us updated.

weeburty, I think you and your good ENT made a sensible, reasonable decision.

As you've pointed out all along, you intend to have a PSG regardless of how much better you've been feeling now. You and your ENT have been going about this with intelligence, care, and a realistic attitude. In your case, perhaps the removal of single area of physical obstruction will have been all it took to cure your OSA. I hope the "slight chance" of a cure turns out to be 100% for you.

Glad to hear that you're feeling better. So far, so good.

Will always be interested in your updates.

Glad to hear it worked. I know when I first met with the sleep specialist, he mentioned that surgery was an option, but "it has about a 50/50 shot of working", while CPAP is a 90% success rate. So it sounds like you were on that side of the tally!

Geez, lighten up. It's entirely possible swollen tonsils could cause apnea or other breathing problems. If removing them fixes them, that's great. If someone gets cured by removing their tonsils, that doesn't invalidate your CPAPness.

It sounds like he may have needed his tonsils out anyway. It's not like the doc talked him into having his throat butchered by having a UVPP or something.

Straighten up or I'll sic the CPOPE on you.

Congratulations weeburty.

archangle wrote:Geez, lighten up. It's entirely possible swollen tonsils could cause apnea or other breathing problems. If removing them fixes them, that's great. If someone gets cured by removing their tonsils, that doesn't invalidate your CPAPness.

It sounds like he may have needed his tonsils out anyway. It's not like the doc talked him into having his throat butchered by having a UVPP or something.

Straighten up or I'll sic the CPOPE on you.

Congratulations weeburty.

thank you archangle and well said.

My tonsils had to come out anyway due to the sheer size of them, the possibility of having the OSA cured was as I said slight and I may have got lucky. I'm sure the majority of the people reading this thread understand this as 99% of the posts are positive and supportive and I thank all of those people.

Just a pity one or two choose to be different, but that's life I suppose, maybe its envy or frustration that it can't be them.

Congrats! Would that we could all find a one-time fix for our apnea . I'll be looking to see whether a sleep study confirms that your apnea is gone. Thanks for posting this, likely it will help someone looking for answers.

I am interested to know how you feel without the CPAP? do you still feel tired through the day?

Basically you may not have had Sleep Apnea, just oversized body parts in your airway. Most of us aren't lucky enough to have something that can be fixed that easily. (Although I don't call any surgery a easy fix) I hope you have a Sleep Study to confirm that you are doing well. Many things can cause Sleep Apnea, but I can see anything that blocks your airway as something that needs treatment. As far as seeing it as a cure for Sleep Apnea , I don't see that it would cure many people, if it would it would be the Gold Standard of treatment, when we were young, (in the dark ages) it seemed to be done a lot to make you healthier, most likely a lot of healthy tissue was removed, for the profit. I was young enought not to remember mine, thank goodness... Jim

Goofproof wrote:Basically you may not have had Sleep Apnea, just oversized body parts in your airway.

Isn't body parts blocking the airway the usual cause of obstructive sleep apnea?

Why do we seem to have a religious devotion to the CPOPE here? Is anyone who gets alternative treatment a heretic?

I do agree that alternative treatment is usually ineffective. Especially surgery.

archangle wrote:

Goofproof wrote:Basically you may not have had Sleep Apnea, just oversized body parts in your airway.

Isn't body parts blocking the airway the usual cause of obstructive sleep apnea?

Why do we seem to have a religious devotion to the CPOPE here? Is anyone who gets alternative treatment a heretic?

I do agree that alternative treatment is usually ineffective. Especially surgery.

Oversized - in flamed body parts aren't sleep apnea, they are a 24/7 health problem. When the apnea is caused by problems that block your airway only when you sleep or a failure of your brain to control your breathing while asleep, then it's Sleep Apnea. Cutting our body parts usually don't cure Sleep Apnea, many times you end up in worse shape than before.

I hope he never had real Sleep Apnea and that his problem is solved, time and tests will tell if done at all. In the meantime, posting on a simple surgery cure, that's undocumented to help most people with Sleep Apnea, only reinforces De-Nile in the many others that need XPAP treatment to succeed, to live better lives. Jim

archangle wrote:

Goofproof wrote:Basically you may not have had Sleep Apnea, just oversized body parts in your airway.

Isn't body parts blocking the airway the usual cause of obstructive sleep apnea?

Technically, yeah.

I guess there could be a distinction made, however, between physically fixed body parts (like oversized tonsils/adenoids) blocking the way, and the more "movable" parts -- the muscles that control movement (in the case of OSA, the "too much relaxation" of those muscles during sleep) of jaw, tongue, soft palate, and other tissues at the back of the throat.

If the total relaxation of sleep does not allow anything else to collapse in the back of the throat, but does allow that last bit of space between the tonsils to close together, I can see how removal of enlarged tonsils might be all that's needed to maintain an open airway during sleep. Hope that proves to be the case for weeburty.

Don't you think enlarged tonsils and a reduced airway size makes it easier for the throat to relax and completely block off the air passage while you sleep?

ozze_dollar wrote:I am interested to know how you feel without the CPAP? do you still feel tired through the day?

feel great, no need for extra naps, no need for methylphenidate to keep me alert so I can drive safely, no rolling eyes when
watching tv or working on laptop

weeburty wrote:

ozze_dollar wrote:I am interested to know how you feel without the CPAP? do you still feel tired through the day?

feel great, no need for extra naps, no need for methylphenidate to keep me alert so I can drive safely, no rolling eyes when
watching tv or working on laptop

That's truly outstanding! I'm really glad you are able to function that well.

As you probably know, you might have issues with obstructive sleep apnea as you age. But that's a really common issue. And until then, enjoy life unconnected!

Goofproof wrote:Basically you may not have had Sleep Apnea, just oversized body parts in your airway. Most of us aren't lucky enough to have something that can be fixed that easily. (Although I don't call any surgery a easy fix) I hope you have a Sleep Study to confirm that you are doing well. Many things can cause Sleep Apnea, but I can see anything that blocks your airway as something that needs treatment. As far as seeing it as a cure for Sleep Apnea , I don't see that it would cure many people, if it would it would be the Gold Standard of treatment, when we were young, (in the dark ages) it seemed to be done a lot to make you healthier, most likely a lot of healthy tissue was removed, for the profit. I was young enought not to remember mine, thank goodness... Jim

And your name is Dr Who?
I don't mean to be rude but please read all of the story, and all of the other posts before commenting, people like you really pxxs me off especially when i am trying to help people here by sharing a potential success story.

Of course i had confirmed OSA, why do you think I had a CPAP? Here in Scotland, if you are in the National health you need to wait 18 months before you even get an appointment in the one Edinburgh hospital that has a sleep clinic. Previous to that I had to wear a splint which made me vomit and it never stayed in all night anyway. During my 2 week test period at the sleep clinic I was averaging 1 OSA event a minute and blood oxygen level as low as 66%. The OSA doctor said I had been lucky not to have had a heart attack or stroke. Without confirmed OSA he would not have given me the CPAP.

Again in my other replies I have stated that this will and cannot work for everyone because not everyone will have enlarged tonsils and even if they did it may not work for them. I was lucky, so far it has worked, this may change in the future, who knows, but at least I have hope and hopefully someone else will benefit from reading this, that is all I intended. It may be a few months before i know for certain due to the time I will need to wait for a study. Again most of this has already been posted in this thread.

weeburty wrote:... And your name is Dr Who? ...

No, no. I'm pretty certain he lurks over on your side of the pond!